Spirit Child
by Forestfirekid
Summary: When Mai accidentally confesses to Naru, he turns her down, claiming that she is in love with his twin brother. By the time he realize that he is wrong, it is to late to take back his actions. Suddenly the team realizes that, even though Mai thinks of them as family, most of them don't no anything about her. Full summery on account profile.


** Hello everyone.**

** I have finally finished my re-written copy of the first chapter. I have combined it with the original first two chapters, as I found that it worked a lot better to arrange the flow of the story so that the two worked together. The only reason that it took so long to post was because I wanted to reach my word quota of 7'000 words (this is per chapter). I added in some more details and changed most of it, though there are parts of it that you will probably recognize as having been in the original. Those parts worked well, so I left them the way they were.**

** Now, on to the chapter.**

_**Mai's POV**_

'_Damn it! What the hell is wrong with me.'_I couldn't help but think as I ran back to the cottage that most of the team was staying at. Why the hell had I chosen this moment of all moments to confess to him that I love him? The one time that I was trying to be helpful by telling him that his brother is checked into a hospital, alive and well and I ruin it by not having planned out exactly what I was going to say before hand. I never had this much trouble with my thoughts when I was younger, so why is it that I am now?

Thinking back to when I was younger I remember how it took my parents a long time to get me to open up to them with my feelings and I guess that was the main reason why it was so easy. As it started to rain I realized that I wasn't crying over the harsh way that Naru had rejected my confession. _'Great. It looks like I'm becoming an emotional recluse again.'_ was the thought the went through my head as I neared the cottage. I hadn't sealed off my emotions in a long time but as I thought back to everything that had happened to me since I joined SPR I realized that as we went through each case, I was hiding my emotions and thoughts from everyone more and more.

The only two people who could tell that I was hiding my emotions were Yasu and Masako. Yasu I had known since I was little and he was the only person who could get me to open up at the time. When he had come to the office the first time, we had pretended that we didn't know each other and he had called me later that day, after I had left the office, to tell me that it would be 'fun' to let the others think that we had just met during that case. He's like an older brother, knowing that I didn't want the others to know anything personal about me and protecting me when he thought that it would be needed.

Masako is really like an overprotective older sister. I realized during the Urado case that she didn't really like Naru at all, she was just trying to make her actual crush, John, jealous and probably, I realize now, make sure that Naru wouldn't hurt me. She and Yasu were the only ones who know the real me.

It was only when I could finally see the cottage, though it was still rather far away, that I thanked my lucky stars that I was as athletic as I was and that I was on some of the sports teams at school. The stamina that I had gained from the constant activities that I did was going to be really helpful at the moment and it also helped that I knew the area like the back of my hand, my parents having had a summer home in the area.

Before I realized it I was in front of the cottage and had automatically slowed down to a brisk walk. The only person who had stayed behind was Masako, and that was because she claimed that she wouldn't be any help in the search. As I walked in I saw Masako turn to look at me from where she had been standing at the window. She had a look of worry on her face and I felt the tears finally start to flow as I saw the look of sympathy and realized that she had seen me running back to the cottage. The moment she saw me starting to cry she came over and wrapped me in a hug, holding the back of my head into her shoulder and patting my back as I continued to cry.

"What happened," she asked me softly.

"The others decided to go to the town while I stayed with Naru because they got tiered of watching and waiting for the divers to find something," I cried into her shoulder." The only reason I stayed was to tell him that his brother was at the last hospital that we stayed at, but I somehow ended up telling him that I loved him and ..."

I drifted off, crying harder, and I felt her stiffen as she realized what had happened. She hugged me tighter.

"I'm so sorry Mai," she whispered. "I'm so sorry. What did he say exactly?"

"I had tried to break the news to him slowly, by asking him what his brother looked like, you know," I told her as my tears started to slow down. "I had known that Gene had been visiting me during my dreams as we worked on cases, you remember when I told you that day you came over? I accidentally let slip that Gene had been present during them."

"He didn't take that very well did," Masako asked me as she pull back slightly.

I let out a shaky chuckle. "He took it better than you think he would. It was only when I interrupted the silence and said that I liked him, not specifying how, that he said that I loved his brother and not him,"tears had started to pour back down my cheeks at this point and Masako pulled me back into a hug. "That I was just disillusioned and had no idea who my feelings were actually for."

There was silence for a moment before, to my surprise, Masako started cursing rather colourfully. It was me who pulled out of the hug this time, and I just stared at her as she continued to curse. I had never heard her curse before and when I heard some of the words I couldn't help but wonder where she had learned them. It took several minutes before she calmed down, and then we just stood there in silence for several minutes.

"What are you going to do now,"she asked me.

"I don't know," I answered her truthfully. "I just don't think I can face him after what he said. I need to get away for a bit." At the look that she sent me I added," I'm not letting you leave SPR for my sake. What about John."

For the first time since I had met her, I got to see Masako loose control over her facial expressions. She gaped at me as she tried to formulate a response to my reason on why she shouldn't leave.

"I never told you that it was John that I had a crush on. Was I really that obvious?"

I giggled. "Masako, if it was obvious the other members would have been on your case long before now. It's just that if they took the time to observe your reactions to what Naru does and says they would notice that you don't actually love him. Every time you do or say something that concerns Naru, you tend to let your eyes glance at John briefly. I only noticed because I know you better than the others."

It took several minutes before Masako had regained her composure, but once she did she brought the topic back to what I was planning to do. "So where are you planning to go?"

"I'm going to go visit Gene first, see what he wants to do, you know," I told her, getting a nod in response. "After that, I'm not so sure. I have money saved up from the jobs that I've done since my parents died, as well as the money from selling most of the summer homes and the house that we used to live in, including all the money that they had in various accounts, so I should be able to provide for myself until I figure out what to do. You have my cell number, so you can call me if you're worried or if you just want to talk. Tell Yasu too, though he'll probably call me just to talk."

Masako sighed. "Come on, I'll help you pack what you need. Remember though that you do have my cell number and that you can call me whenever you want to."

Masako led the way to my room, not that I didn't know the way but because I wasn't really feeling up to it. If I had actually been thinking when I was running, I probably would have run straight to Gene at the hospital rather than coming back to the cottage that we were renting. Rather than re-packing my suitcase, which would be a pain to carry, I took the satchel that I had packed just in case and put what I knew that I would definitely need in it. I packed three changes of clothes, my toiletries, my cell phone, and my note and sketch books and pencils. The rest of the clothes that I had brought with me I was going to leave here. The first thing I was doing once I had talked with Gene was visit my apartment, empty the place of everything that was mine and that I wanted and needed, and put it up for sale. I had no intention of meeting any members of the team before I was ready to, and the only way to insure that was to move, since I knew that at least Naru and Lin knew my address.

"Are you sure that you've got everything you need," Masako asked me as she looked around the room for anything that I might need but may have forgotten.

"Yep," I answered her. "I mostly pack clothes for stay-over cases anyway. The note books are mostly school related, though a couple are for taking notes during cases, and the sketch books are meant for free time. Other than that I don't bring anything important with me on cases, I just leave them at my apartment."

"Speaking of your apartment," Masako said as she turned to face me, "what are you planning to do with it? Are going to continue living there?"

I shook my head. "No, Naru and Lin know my address, so once they realize that I've left, that's the first place that they will go to. I'm probably not going to go back to it right away, but when I do it's most likely going to be so I can take everything out of it and allow the manager of the building to put it up for sale."

Looking at her watch, Mai noticed that it had been around thirty five minutes since she had ran away from from the lakeside to the cottage. She was sure that Naru would start making his way back soon, and even if he wasn't the first one back, the rest of the team was sure to be back soon.

"Masako, I'm going to leave before the others come back. Do you think that you can keep the rest of the things that I have here at your place? I'll come pick them up as soon as I know where I'm gong to stay."

Masako nodded before walking me out of the bedroom to the door. "Sure. I'll keep an eye on your apartment too, just in case. If the landowner decides to sell the place to someone else, I'll go and remove anything that I think are of importance and call you so that you can decide what to do with the rest, since I still have the spare key that you gave me."

I smiled at her over my shoulder. "Thanks Masako. Your like the big sister I never had."

With that I made sure that the satchel was secure over my shoulder and I took off running towards the hospital. I knew that once she had the chance that Masako would call me just so that she could keep me informed with what was going on, so I knew that I wouldn't miss her as much as I would some of the others. Ayako had become something of a mother figure alongside Madoka, though I had spent less time with Madoka than I had with Ayako. Monk had become a father figure, and with his constant arguments with Ayako, they actually seemed like a married couple, one that had been together for several years. If they didn't realize that they liked each other by the end of the year, I was going to talk Masako and Yasu into playing matchmaker for me.

Lin was like an uncle. He was always concerned for my safety, even though he wouldn't show it. I had no idea where Naru stood in this make shift family, Yasu and Masako being the older siblings. If it hadn't been for the fact that I had known that it was Gene who was helping me through my dreams, I may have actually believed him when he had told me that I loved his brother and not him. I no longer knew though what to think of him. When I looked back at everything he had done since I had met him, I noticed that some of his actions contradicted others. It was confusing.

As I ran through the trees in the most direct route towards the hospital, I noticed that the rain had started to come down harder than when it had started and that not only was it getting harder still, but the sky was also getting darker. It looked like a thunderstorm was coming in and all I thought at the time was to hope that the darkness of the coming storm as well as the rain would slow them down if they decided to look for me or if, by some sort of miracle, Naru decides that dredging the lake is pointless and asks someone to call all the hospitals to see if someone matching Gene's description had been brought into any of the morgues.

I don't know how long it took me to get to the hospital, the same one that Naru had been hospitalized in after our last case, but all I knew was that it hadn't actually felt that long. I had been a regular visitor up until I had gotten my part time job at SPR and even when I had gotten the job, I still tried my best to visit once a month, so the moment I had walked in through the electronic sliding doors the nurse at the desk welcomed me and called another nurse to lead me to Gene's room. It took not even five minutes to reach Gene's hospital room and once she had led me to the room, the nurse excused herself and left.

The moment I walked through the doors, Gene jumped off his bed and pulled me into a hug. "I can't believe that my brother said what he said," he growled out, is grip around me getting tighter. " You think of me like a brother, why the hell would you like me that way."

"So you did hear all that," I couldn't help but state in amusement. "I thought I told you to stay out of my head unless I called to you."

Gene pulled back and let me go, and it took all my self control not to laugh out loud at the pout on his face. "But it's fun to watch him get riled up and your the only person I know who has managed it and the only way I can see it is by looking at your thoughts."

I looked around the room and noticed the lack of the hospital electronics. "How long have you been ready to leave," I asked him, my amusement still present.

He smiled at me from where he was standing. " Since your last visit a week ago, when my idiot brother was stuck in a hospital bed because he used his PK abilities because that god pissed him off. I realized that you'd be driving past the lake on the way back to the office, so I figured I'd take safety measures. The only reason that I've been here as long as I have was because I wanted to make sure that you'd be fine."

I was touched by how much he cared about me and I was about to respond when I heard someone cough behind me, causing not only me to turn around and look at it's source, but also causing Gene to look past me, since he hadn't been paying enough attention to notice anyone walk into the room. There was a person standing in the doorway, an amused smile on her face. Her hair was the same shade of brown as mine, a chocolate brown, with the black streaks that mine had as well, though I used hair die to cover it up, and, unlike mine, it came down to the middle of her back. Her eyes were the same colour as the coloured contacts that I wore to hid their actual colour, which were an ice blue and had gotten me a lot of unwanted attention when I was younger because it wasn't a normal colour for someone who was Japanese. She was wearing a black leather, pleated, mid-thigh length skirt with a white tank top. Over the tank top was a black wrap around cardigan. On her hands she wore black fingerless gloves, which came up to just before her elbow. On her feet she wore a pair of black lace up boots that also had buckles at the top with knee high white stockings.

"Talk about deja vu," she said out loud, her amusement leaking into her voice. "I track you down to the lake side and your talking to a boy before you take of as I'm getting out of the car, and then, when I manage to figure out where you've gone, I find you talking in a hospital room with a boy who looks identical to the one you were talking to at the lake side."

"Who are you," I asked, Gene asking the same question with me.

The girls eyes narrow in thought as she looks at me, seeming to ignore Gene. "Damn, looks like I owe Oliver the cash that I bet,"she muttered loud enough for both me and Gene to hear. "He said that you probably wouldn't remember, but I was sure that the connection would have worked through whatever memory problems that you were having. After all, you did drag me with you every time that you projected onto the astral plane."

"You didn't answer my question," I told her bluntly, to confused to phrase it any politer than I had.

The girl looked up in surprise, as though she had forgotten that she had an audience. "Oh, I'm sorry, I completely forgot that you two were hear for a moment," she told us, rubbing the back of her head, sheepish.

Gene rolled his eyes and answered for the two of us. "We kinda figured."

"Are you going to answer the question," I added to his statement, really wondering who this girl was and why she had acted as though she knew me and was surprised when I hadn't recognized her.

"Yah, sorry," she she said before bringing her hands together in front of her and bowing. "My name is Haruko Gage, and I am the second oldest of the Gage siblings."

"Whose the oldest and how many siblings do you have that are younger than you," Gene and I asked her in unison.

She looked at us in amusement as she came out of the bow. " The oldest is Oliver, who is rather overprotective of family, and I have two younger sisters. My twin, who is younger than me by two minutes, Mayumi and another sister who is younger than me by two years, Kira."

I froze when she said that her twin sister's name was Mayumi, the name having struck a cord with me amongst the memories that I had forgotten, but I had no idea why the name felt so important. I had no idea how long I was lost in my thoughts, but it was Gene who brought me back down to earth. He was shaking my shoulder and I took a quick look at both his expression and Haruko's. Haruko was looking at me in horror, while Gene had a curious look on his face.

"Those seals of yours were glowing again," he told me at the same time that I heard Haruko whisper, "You used that ritual. That's why you don't remember."

It looked like I wasn't the only one to hear her though, since Gene turned his attention back to her and asked her, "What ritual?"

She opened her mouth to answer when her cell phone rang. She picked it up and I heard a young girl's voice speak briefly.

"Alright, thanks for informing me Kira. We'll come by and pick you up in a bit, so just stay put alright," Haruko answered the girl, who I realized was her youngest sister when she said the name, before she hung up.

"I would answer that question here," she told both me and Gene. "but if you guys don't want to have a run in with those people from SPR, then it might be prudent for us to leave before they arrive and for me to explain it in the car."

I shared a quick look with Gene, before I answered her. " That sounds fine, lead the way."

Just before we were about to exit the room, Gene place an envelope that I could see was addressed to his twin on the side table before following us. The three of us quickly made our way to the entrance of the hospital and we were about to go outside when Gene told us to wait a moment. Both me and Haruko watched as he quickly told the receptionist that he was checking out but that when, not if but when, a boy who looked like him came and asked what room he was in, that she should ask one of the nurses to lead him to the room he had spent his time in as he had left something for him. The receptionist, who both me and Gene had learned had a liking for pranks, nodded to him with mischief visible in her eyes.

We quickly made our way outside to the car that was waiting the moment that Gene joined us. Me and Gene sat in the back, Gene sitting in the middle so that Kira would be able to get in as well, while Haruko sat in the seat beside the driver. I assumed that the driver was her older brother Oliver, since he looked to be in his early twenties and he looked similar to her, though he looked more Chinese compared to Haruko, who looked mostly Japanese. I assumed that one of their parents were Japanese while the other was Chinese, since that was the only way that it made sense to me if they were siblings.

The moment that the car started to drive away from the hospital and towards the lake Haruko started to explain what she had meant by ritual when we had been in the hospital room.

"It's a family ritual," she explained as Oliver drove at a decent speed, not too fast and not too slow. "It's been in our mother's family through her father's side for generations, as far back as the Middle Ages, I think. It is only used during times where they needed to keep certain things a secret. Normally there is the person it is being used on as well as a caster, which ensures that the information is kept secret from people outside of the Clan but that the person still remembers the information. No one has ever tried to preform the ritual without a second person, since there was no knowing what could happen. I guess that question has finally been answered,"she sighed.

I turned away from the window to stare at her through the review mirror. " Are you saying that we're related," I asked her.

I could see the reflection of her nod in the review mirror. "Yes. You disappeared when we were three. You had been at home, sick, with mother and father while the maid had taken me, Oliver, Kira, as well as her own two children out to the park. We have no idea what happened, but when we had gotten back there was blood everywhere, mom and dad's corpses were on top of each other and you were gone. It took us till four months ago to figure out that you were going under a different name and just until last week to track you down."

It took a while for the information to sink in. "I'm Mayumi."

I saw her nod.

_'Damn,'_ I couldn't help but think as I looked back out the window. _'Why is my life the one that has the weird twists and turns. Why can't it be someone else.'_

I heard Gene's chuckles in my head at that statement as I started to doze off, but I didn't fall asleep until after I caught a glimpse of what looked to be the larger SPR van drive by towards the direction of the Hospital.

_**Masako's POV**_

I watched as Mai ran out of the door and in the direction that would take her to the hospital. It wasn't going to be the same working with SPR without her and I had no idea how the others hadn't noticed that they had started to rely on her visions to solve a case. I made my way back to Mai's room and started to put her things back into her suitcase so that I would be able to take it back to my place. When Naru got back I was going to make his life as difficult as I could. No one hurt someone that I saw as family and got away with it.

As I walked out of Mai's room, fifteen minutes after having entered it, I heard the door to the cottage open and close and I couldn't help but be slightly relived that no one had come in while I was packing Mai's stuff. That would have been an awkward situation to explain myself out of.

I walked towards the window and situated myself in a way that it looked like I was looking out the window but also allowed me a clear view of the entryway to the room. I turned my head slightly to see who had entered to see Monk, John, Yasu, and Ayako walk in soaking wet. Monk and Ayako were arguing back and forth, but for the first time, John wasn't trying to stop the argument and he looked worried. Yasu wasn't saying anything, but he gave me a questioning look that I deciphered as 'do you have any idea where Mai is' which I nodded slightly in answer. His eyes brighten slightly in relief and he nodded back to me. It was after he nodded back that the others noticed that I was in the room.

"Have you seen Mai," asked Monk, looking at me.

I brought my Kimono sleeve to cover the lower half of my face. "No I have not. Why?" I said, lying through my teeth.

I saw Yasu's eye's widen slightly at the fact that I was lying to the others, before he seemed to understand that I, or Mai, didn't want the others to know where she was.

Monk swore and started out of the room, only to walk straight into Naru who had just entered with an umbrella, dry as can be.

"What are you doing," asked Naru in a cold voice, a glare making its way onto his face.

"They are looking for Mai," I replied, keeping my Kimono sleeve in it's position blocking the lower portion of my face so that all they could see were my eyes. "Have you seen her?"

"She was asking me questions around an hour ago," Naru replied, still in that cold tone. "Why?"

Oh, he had some nerve to twist the truth lie that! And had it really been an hour since Mai had left Naru at the lake?

This time it was John who replied, "Because the last time we saw her was two and a half hours ago when we left her with you while we went to town."

The worry was evident in his voice and I almost told them. Almost. I held my tongue. I was not going to sell Mai out. When she wanted to see everyone, she would come find them, or let them find her. There was also the fact that I wanted to see how Naru would answer John, since I'm pretty sure that I wasn't the only one who had noticed the fact that he liked her.

"That girl can take care of her self," Naru's voice seamed to drop a few degrees. Under any other circumstance I would have been absolutely stunned. I could help the small smirk that crossed my face before I schooled my expression, my Kimono sleeve still covering the lower half of my face so that no one saw. Though from the fact that Yasu now had a smirk on his face, he must have seen something flash through my eyes. It was time to start making Naru's life difficult.

"What did you say to her Naru," I say, my voice coming out in whisper. Everybody turned to look at me. The looks on their faces showed that they could not believe what they had heard me say, let alone in defence of a girl they always thought I was always jealous of, since they didn't know that it was an act.

"What," even Naru sounded shocked at what I had asked him, though no one but me and Lin, who had just walked in, also as dry as can be and holding an umbrella, could tell.

"What did you say to her Naru," I say louder, so they knew that they heard right. They were shocked. "She would have been back by now, even if she had been physically hurt. What did you say to her?"

My voice was rising with each word and there wasn't even a need to fake the emotion since I was both upset and angry at him already for what he had told the girl I saw as my younger sister. From the way I had phrased it though, I had indirectly told Yasu that Naru had hurt Mai's feelings and Yasu had understood what I meant. He started to glare at Naru, while the others were watching both me and Naru to see where the argument was going. He ignored what I said, which made everyone in the room realize that he was the cause of Mai's disappearance.

"Miss Matsuzaki, would you check all hospitals to see if a body with this identification has been brought in to the morgue." He said as he handed Ayako a sheet of paper with what I knew was the name and description of his dead brother. _Well not so dead, I saw him in his hospital room while we were waiting for you to wake up and Mai has been telling me all about him,_ I thought.

"Eugene Davis," Ayako read out loud. This got heads to turn. " If he is your brother, that would make you …" she trailed off as everyone began to realize that they had been helping with cases for the famous Oliver Davis.

I couldn't hold back the giggles that came out of my mouth, which was still hidden behind my kimono sleeve, " Took you long enough. Even Mai figured out long before you guys." No one had ever seen me laugh, even Naru, and this as well as the information I had just accidentally given away got everyone's mouths to drop, including Lin's and Naru's, even though theirs was not as obvious.

"So you are saying that Mai figured out my identity a long time ago. Tell me where did she get the information no one knew up until this moment except for you," asked Naru, with obvious curiosity in his voice.

"I will answer your question when you answer mine," I replied with smugness in my voice. That earned me a glare. In the silence that ensued as every one processed this, we could hear Ayako calling the hospitals around the area, to see if anyone had brought in a person who went by the name 'Eugene Davis', dead or alive. After an hour and a half of agonizing silence, she finally put down the phone.

" Hey guys, I think you may all want to hear this," she said, her voice was quiet, holding shock. Everyone turned their heads and waited for her to continue. I had a sneaking suspicion I knew what she was going to say.

" Well," started Ayako, " You guys remember the hospital we went to after the case with the cave." Everyone nodded. " Turns out that a girl, who matches the description of Mai exactly, brought in a boy who matches the description and the name of Naru's dead twin."

_'About time,'_ I couldn't help but think as everyone else just stood there in silence. With the time it had taken for Ayako to track down Gene's body, I knew that Mai had at least made it to the hospital. Hopefully she was gone by the time we got their so that she wouldn't have to face Naru.

" When was he brought in," Naru asked.

" A year before you came and opened SPR," Ayako replied. " And he is checked into a room and is alive and healthy," she continued.

I watched as I saw several different emotions pass through Naru's eyes at a speed that made it impossible the separate them.

_**Naru's POV**_

My eyes widened when I heard what Miss Matsuzaki had said. Gene. Alive. No. That was impossible. I had seen his death through his own eyes. That is what our connection allowed. Even if he couldn't use our connection, why had he not called home. And Mai. Had she truly known from the start that I was Oliver Davis? Masako had blackmailed me when she had figured it out, but if Mai had really known, she had just let it be. If I had been more truthful with her would she have told me that she had saved Gene?

What had I done. I turned her down when she confessed to me, by telling her that she loved my twin who showed up in her clairvoyant dreams, but if she had known where Gene had been all this time, then she had actually loved me, not my brother. Now that I though back to it, I couldn't help but cringe mentally. She hadn't actually said that she loved me, she had said that she liked me. There was a difference between the two and, for all I knew, she could have meant as a friend. I had thought that I could read her as easily as a book, but now I realized that wasn't as true as I had thought it was, because if it was then I would have realized that she hadn't actually confessed. I shook my self mentally. Now was not the time to think about my mistakes.

" Lin, get the car ready. We are all going back to the hospital," I say out loud. I hope that that's were Mai went, because I am starting to feel guilty. I should not have said what I did and if I found her I would apologize.

We all walked out of the cottage and toward the vans. We all piled into the bigger one of the two, Lin in the drivers seat and me beside him, and we set off toward the hospital. The car ride to the hospital was silent, very silent. I could feel the glares of every one on the back of my head. If glares could have killed I would have died five times already. Even John was glaring, and he was a priest. I knew that Lin would scold me, as well as call Madoka and my parents. I was not looking forward to the lectures those four people would be giving me in the near future. As we drove by I saw a car dive by and I couldn't help but wonder who besides us would be driving in this weather.

It didn't take long for us to reach the hospital and when we did, I waited slightly impatiently for the others to exit the car. Once they had I made my way as quickly as I could without running to the receptionist's desk and asked for the room that my brother was checked into. She called a nurse and told her to lead us to the room.

_**Masako's POV**_

As we walked into the hospital I spotted a mischievous look in the eyes of the receptionist at the desk. It took all I had not to smirk.

When Naru asked for the number of the room that his brother was in, the receptionist called a nurse to lead us there, but the mischievous look in her eyes didn't disappear._' So,'_ I couldn't help but think. _'they've planned something out with one of the staff.'_

Once we got to the room, the nurse left us outside the door. Naru walked in and the rest of us followed him, not because we were following his lead but because we wanted to see if Mai was there as well. Naru hadn't made it more than a couple steps past the doorway before he froze. From what I could see from around him, the room was empty. I sniggered mentally. _'Hah! Looks like Gene left with Mai.'_

"Oi, Naru! The rest of us want to come in too you know,"I couldn't help but tell him, surprising everyone with how cold my voice had become. " Can you move or have you forgotten how."

Now, except for Mai, Yasu, and my family, no one had every heard me be sarcastic and the fact that I said the last sentence sarcastically seemed to surprised Naru enough to move forward so that the rest of us could enter the room. When everyone saw that the room was empty they just stood there in silence. It was John who saw the letter on the table beside the hospital bed first, just a few seconds before I did, I think.

"Kazuya, there's a letter here addressed to you," John said out loud, walking over and handing him the letter that he had picked up off the table.

_**Naru's POV**_

__ I took the letter and started to read it, noticing that Lin was reading over my shoulder.

_Noll,_

_How the hell did you manage to think that Mai was in love with me. ARE YOU INSANE. She didn't even confess that she had any feelings for you that way, so how in the world did you assume that she did. She said that she LIKED you, not LOVED. How in the name of hell did you manage to confuse that? Is this how you responded to all the girls that confessed to you over the years, because if it is, then I no longer know you as well as I thought. I hope you drop dead, and if you do, and if I were to come to your funeral it would be a cold day in hell. Don't bother looking for me and Mai-chan, because I will tell you right know that your going to have extreme difficulty._

_Again, I hope you drop dead because I don't care,_

_ Eugene_

__I didn't realize that the entire time that I was reading the letter I had started to cringe. I had not expected my brother to scold me.

_**Masako's POV**_

As I watched Naru read the letter that was addressed to him and cringed more and more as he read the letter. I had never seen Naru actually express his emotions on his face before, and I was pretty sure that only Lin was the only one that could read the emotions in Naru's eyes while Mai had had the ability as well, so it was rather entertaining watching him wish he was anywhere but here reading the letter that had been left for him. After a couple minutes though, that amusement had disappeared and I was getting impatient with him. I had noticed that Lin was reading the letter over Naru's shoulder and it was obvious when he finished reading, since his eyes had narrowed and he had lifted up is cell phone and taken a photo of the contents of the letter.

"So what does it say," I finally demanded angrily, having given up on either of them saying something since it looked like Naru was reading it for a third time and Lin was busy on his phone.

Their were several things that I was expecting after my outburst. I was expecting the odd looks from the other irregular members of the team except for Yasu. I even expected Naru to glare at me and tell me that it wasn't any of my business. What I wasn't expecting was for Lin to stop doing whatever he had been doing on his phone, grab the letter out of Naru's hands, and give it to me while giving Naru a sharp glare before Naru had the chance to say a word. Even though I already knew what had happened down at the lakeside, reading it made all of the anger that I had held back because Mai had been present suddenly broke through whatever had been keeping it back. I looked at Naru coldly and I couldn't help the mental smirk at the brief startled look that crossed his face before he regained control over his emotions.

"I agree with your brother," I told him as I shoved the letter into his chest, hard. "I hope you drop dead, and I'll only come to your funeral when hell freezes over."

With that said I turned to Lin. "I going back to the van. Are you coming to unlock the door or should I wait at the hospital doors?"

"I'll come," Lin said as he made his way to the door, causing everyone to look at him in barely hidden surprise, including Naru.

As the two of us left, I took note that Yasu was following us out of the room and, as the door closed behind me, I could have sworn I heard Monk ask, "What was in that letter to cause the two of them to react like that?"

_**General POV**_

Everyone watched as Masako, Lin, and Yasu walked out of the hospital room. The day had taken a turn for both the worst and the weird, since they couldn't find Mai and Lin, Masako, and Yasu were acting weird. They hadn't thought that Masako and Mai had been close at all, since all they really did was fight all the time, but with Masako's reactions, they no longer were certain that they had the relationship of the two down properly.

"What was in that letter to cause the two of them to react like that?" Monk couldn't help but ask, his eyes still staring at the door that the three members who had just left had gone through.

His statement got the attention of the members that had remained. They all turned to look at Naru, who's face was holding a barely controlled look of betrayal. Seeing that he was cornered, Naru handed over the letter that had been left behind with as much dignity that he had left before walking out of the hospital room himself in order to avoid the backlash that would be caused towards him once the letter had been fully read.

His idea that he would it would be better to leave to avoid the backlash of his actions was a good one, even though he knew that he probably deserved it. Ayako, Monk, and John took turns reading the letter over the next couple minutes and they were all furious once they had finished, even John who tried to keep the peace between everyone.

None of them seeing the point of staying in the room with no one actually being in there, the three of them followed Naru out, taking the letter with them. Even though Naru had avoided the explosion of anger that was direct towards him at the moment, he wouldn't be able to stay away from it for long. None of the irregular members of SPR had the intention of letting him forget his actions and what they had led to.

** Okay. This chapter was a total of 12 pages and hit 7'505 words. Please send me reviews as I find them really helpful on improving the story and it gives me ideas on what to write next on occasion. I have tried my best to fix the issues that everyone pointed out to me as well as the ones that I noticed myself, but I might have missed something. I will hopefully be out with the next chapter soon.**

** Do remember to check my profile for any updates on any of my stories as I hate adding author's notes to my stories,**

** Forestfirekid**


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